Eating my Coffee with a Spoon!

One of my favorite places here in Lubbock is a relatively new, very trendy place that serves "deconstructed" pies. That is, creamy pie fillings, optional crumbled crust, and whipped cream in fancy glasses. The name of this place is The Choc'late Mousse: A Pie Bar and it is located on 50th Street between Indiana and Gary. Today, I got to try the Mocha flavored pie filling. I don't normally speak in text lingo, but OMG. That stuff was amazing, and because it was coffee-related I get to promote an awesome spot.

To start with the pie filling itself, the flavor was great. It was reminiscent of a chocolate covered espresso bean. The coffee flavor was rich and deep. The chocolate flavor was decidedly in the background. The texture was perfect. It was a little thicker than a cream pie, a little thinner than a regular cheesecake. The whipped cream (made from scratch, perfectly) on top reminded me of the froth on a good cappuccino, giving just a hint of dairy sweetness.

For those who are not familiar with the pie bar and would like more detail than what I said in the intro, the name does not make reference to alcohol, but to the glasses used to serve the amazing goodness! My favorite is the Pietini, served in a martini glass. The reason this is my favorite is that it can be done completely crustless or with just a little hint of crust as a garnish on top. Today, however, I went outside my zone a bit. They have added a new item, the Pie Flight. You get in front of you a small wooden tray with six shot glasses, each filled with your choice of pie filling (usually with crust, but they'll do it crustless upon request). I selected some tried and true favorites (Coconut Creme; Milky Way; Oreo; and Cheesecake) and two flavors that were completely new for me (Lemon Cream and Mocha). The picture below shows what it looked like before I started enjoying the goodness!




Take home message: If you love pie, I STRONGLY recommend this place! If you love coffee, definitely try the Mocha flavor. If they have too many amazing looking flavors and you can't decide, get the Pie Flight!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Dear Starbucks, your wooden chairs are implements of torture

I'm sorry that this isn't a real product review and is instead more like a small rant. I have recently found out that I have a herniated disc in my back, so comfort has become increasingly important to me. It has to make you wonder, back pain or not, why does Starbucks have so many uncomfortable chairs and just a few comfortable chairs? I had said in an earlier blog post that a woman with a smart phone could rule the world, if she is at her favorite coffee shop with wifi. Those of you that sympathized with that sentiment, because you get your work done at coffee shops, may have noticed that Starbucks caps your free wifi at 2 hours. That, combined with the uncomfortable chairs, just makes it seem like they don't want us to stay here too long. I prefer to settle in, though. It is much less efficient to unpack all the things I need, only to have to pack them again and drive to another, similar type of place because I have been made to feel like I have overstayed my welcome. I would rather hunker down in one place, and stretch every once in a while and buy more food and drink from the same one place. Maybe too many people have stay well over 2 hours after getting a tall brewed coffee and no food. Maybe some analyst figured out what they need to do to make sure that people who aren't buying any more products will leave so there are seats for people who do want to buy stuff. Maybe more of us need to be more honest when we are working for a long time at coffee shops and buy more food or another beverage every hour. I don't know the solution, but I do know that it has to be something better than those terrible wooden chairs.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Starbucks, University Ave,Lubbock,United States

Yawn, Stretch, Kevaccino

Wow, it has been a long time since I last posted! I am excited to say that I am ready to be back. As much of a mental health break as this blog was, I could not possibly devote any time to it while in the last home stretch of my dissertation. But now that it is completely done, formatting changes and all, I am ready to blog once again. As always, I love feedback. If you have tried something that I review on here, whether you agree with me or had a totally opposite experience from mine, please comment!! If you think I should review something that I haven't yet, please comment!! If you sell anything coffee related and want me to review, you guessed it, please comment!!

 And now, to re-start things the right way, with a coffee related review. I went to the Keva Juice smoothie shop on 19th and Quaker, here in Lubbock, TX. Feeling about a quart low on my caffeine intake for the day, I naturally gravitated to the coffee section of the menu and selected a Kevaccino. They promptly offered me one free supplemental add-in, called an Energizer, which they promised would not affect the flavor or texture of the drink. I opted for the Stress Relief add-in, which has a host of vitamins in it. I have to say, the thing was amazing!!! It had a great texture. It wasn't so thick that I couldn't get it theough the straw, but was thick enough that I knew it was a shake. It didn't taste or feel (texture-wise) like it was healthy (c'mon, we all expect healthy to taste like cardboard). It was made with non-fat yogurt, but tasted like probably the best coffee flavored shake I have ever had. It was on the pricey side, but I thought it was worth it.

 Take-home message: If you like coffee shakes and are willing to pay a little more for a good one that tastes like a splurge but is good for you (about 75 less calories, less than half the fat, and almost double the protein compared to a mocha frappuccino at Starbuck's), then put this on the must try list!